The Huang Mei Gui is a rock oolong whose name can be translated as “yellow rose”. The name gave to this tea is quite recent because this product started to being made only in the 2002. Before this year the cultivar of this tea was refined and let it grow on the rocky soil of the Wuyi mountains where today the production is big enough to enter the enter in the market together with the other more established varietal like the Shui Jing Gui, the Tie Luo Han, the Shui Xian etc. this product show a more relevant aromatic and floral character instead of the other yancha thanks to a lower level of oxidation which also leaves some space for a sort of vegetal flavor during the tasting time. Also the roast of the leaves is made in a quite light way so it’s possible to obtain a soft acid flavor which will fix itself on the palate with the floral feature leaving a rich aftertaste sensation. During the tasting time there will be the clear mineral touch typical of a yancha which gives a full body to this tea and enchanted the persistency of flavors in the mouth. We invite you to brew this tea following the gong fu cha method in order to fully appreciate the complexity of this tea and the interactions of their flavors on the palate.
Place of origin
Wuyi Sahn, Fujian – China
Production
After the harvest the leaves wither under the sunlight for a certain period of time before going on bamboo trays indoor. Here it’s where the oxidation process begin thanks to the tea master who rolled the tea leaves on the trays. When the leaves have the desire oxidation level (here there is an oxidation level around the 45%) the leaves go into a oven heated up by coal where the enzymes related to the oxidation process are deactivated. After this phase the leaves are mechanical rolled in their final form before going into a series of roasting period where the product is dried a bit more and consolidate its flavors.
Preparation
We invite you to brew this tea in the traditional Chinese style (gong fu cha) in order to extract more from your leaves. Following this preparation you could use 6 grams of leaves (about 4 teaspoons) in a gaiwan of 100 ml so you can obtains more infusions with different flavors. After a brief rinse of the leaves in a 100°C water you can go with a first infusion of 10 seconds and, after that, at the same water temperature, you can do multiple infusion adding 5 seconds every steeping time (10 – 15 – 20 …)
These leaves could be steep about 7 times.
To prepare the tea in the western style we suggest 3 grams of leaves (about 2 teaspoons) in a 150 ml cup with 100°C water for a steeping time of one minute and an half.
The tea could be filtered if you want to avoid some little piece of the leaves during the tasting time and also the steeping time we recommend here could be modify on your personal preferences.
We recommend you to store this tea in a dry and cool place avoiding the direct sun light on the leaves.